Tara Palmer-Tomkinson is the latest celeb to get a “Brazilian most women wince at the idea
BODY LANGUAGE
Laura Barton
Cross your legs, ladies, this may sting a little. On a scale of one to childbirth, waxing your nether regions is a minor blip. But the curious point is that more and more women are trotting willingly to the beautician to be sugared, waxed, shorn and plucked.
Filming the video to accompany his new single Bushes, Fatboy Slim has neatly succeeded in killing two birds with one stone. For not only has Slim secured himself a rather unusual video, he has also conspired in the setting of a new world record: the most people to have their bikini lines waxed in four hours. Seventy-four women and two men agreed to have their faces filmed while undergoing the procedure, which will be compiled into a montage of their pained facial expressions. “We wanted something kitschy, sexy and glammy,” explained John Hassay, who commissioned the video. “It’s simple and sexy without being crude. It just works.”
It is certainly of the moment. Waxing and stripping and generally coiffuring one’s pubic hair has become something of a craze over the past few years. It is the latest trend to spill across from Los Angeles, emulating the success of nail bars. Naomi Campbell waxes, we are told, along with every self-respecting model, whatever.
Gwyneth Paltrow reportedly left a picture in her local salon on which she had written: “Thank you, you changed my life.” And on Sunday the socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson outed herself as a fan of the bikini wax by exposing (all of) herself in the pages of the News of the World.
At the Daniel Hersheson salon in London, Brazilian-born Otylia Roberts is queen waxer. When Paltrow is in town, she comes to Roberts. She has a three-month waiting list and her clients come back to back, in a steady stream of 20-minute sessions throughout the day.
Victoria Beckham was in last week, she says, having her underarms done. Roberts tried to talk her into having a “Brazilian” which leaves a little runway strip of hair, which is big in the porn industry and is also known on these shores as “the Beckham” in tribute to the hairstyle briefly sported by Victoria’s footballing husband.
Waxing your bits is like waxing anywhere else, according to the Hersheson salon: “The more you have it, the less quickly it grows back. You weaken the root and it grows back, softer and a lot less.” They estimate it will need doing every three to four months.
Pauline has been going to Otylia for almost 18 months. “You walk through the door and she says: ‘Everything off!’ and it’s so amusing that you immediately feel at ease. You’re naked from the waist down. It’s not like having a bikini wax where you’re shifting your knickers wherever you want it. She uses baby powder first and then the wax. But the wax is very warm. It leaves you smooth as a baby.”
So why are increasing numbers of women allowing complete strangers to apply torture to their private parts? “You feel more confident, more fabulous about yourself,” says Pauline. “And you feel cheeky that no one else knows.”
And the pain? “Well it’s not painless. She slaps your thigh and then she rips. After a while you’re not even fazed. She continues to talk to you, as though you’re at the dentist. It’s not as painful as you would think,” says Pauline.
“On a pain scale of one to 10, leg-waxing would come at about seven, and the Brazilian would be about, um, nine or 10,” says Shona, 22, an advertising manager. “It grew back,” she says, reassuringly. “After a few months, anyway. It’s like a little strip.”
And what on Earth made her do it? “I was going on holiday and I wanted to wear a very skimpy bikini,” she says, matter-of-factly. She went to a local salon in Hounslow, Middlesex. “They were all right, but it was a bit embarrassing for both parties.”
But in the nation’s fashionable salons, they’re getting pretty fancy with the hot wax. The Brazilian, as you might expect, was first popularised on the beaches of Rio, where they sport the sort of skimpy bikinis that require a serious amount of de-fuzzing.
Or you can have a Hollywood, which means removing absolutely everything (the provenance of this is less clear). Happily, in winter, the call for this kind of thing will start to lessen. Expect a rush on sensible thermal knickers.